


Legal Ramifications

by EnemyMine



Series: Wants, needs and realities [9]
Category: NCIS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Study, Episode Related, Episode: s06e08 Cloak, Episode: s06e09 Dagger, POV Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-09-26 03:31:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9860360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnemyMine/pseuds/EnemyMine
Summary: The NCIS is finally starting to get back on track to its former glory. But its agents really can't catch a break. Michelle has to learn that fact the hard way.





	1. Chapter 1

Special Agent Michelle Lee was wringing her hands in desperation, every so often her sweaty palms would find the fabric of her smart skirt to try and erase the fluid from it. The same time she tried to keep her breathing in an easy and steady rhythm. But to no avail.  
Never in her life had a ride in an elevator took so long. But then she never had felt the need to flick the emergency stop switch. And to think that only months before last she had felt carefree like rarely ever in her life.

Maybe everything in the last two years had been to good to be true for her and it was some form of destiny that everything now came tumbling down around her. There probably was some Chinese proverb about just that very thing, her parents would gladly teach her about. If her parents were still alive that is. Luckily they would never need to see the shame she could bring over the family due to her recent acts.  
And yet Michelle had managed to uphold her family name honorably for many years since their passing. She finished high school and managed to gain scholarships to first attend college and then get one of the highly in-demand places at Harvard Law School. At the same time she raised her adopted sister from infant-hood as if she was her own child.  
Being basically handpicked by then director of NCIS, Sheppard, to join the agency appeared to be a blessing for a young woman with lots of student debts and a newly minted lawyer's degree. 

Then she got her first assignment as a probationary agent, on the MCRT of all places!  
She had heard the water cooler gossip, or as most people at the agency called it, scuttlebutt, and knew the reputation of that team. It was nefarious in chewing up and spitting out unfit agents. Unfit in their opinion, not by agency regulations.  
But that had been before infamous Agent Gibbs had suddenly left and the position of team leader want to his previous senior field agent.

Agent DiNozzo had proven to be a fair and very competent leader and educator. Yes, he still forgot about her from time to time, like when he returned from the German Security Conference. But he never did so with ill-intent.  
Michelle was no fool. She saw how much he had up his plate with being a team leader and a somewhat figure head for the agency. Because that is what the Supervisory Special Agent of the Major Case Response Team based out of the Navy Yard was.  
It was the number one team at the prime location with the potential for far reaching high profile cases in a highly political environment.

She didn't envy Agent DiNozzo one bit back then for keeping it all together. The team had been in a transitional period that seemingly didn't want to end. Not for the lack of trying on her supervisor's part. But for the opposition he had been facing at every turn. The lawyer in her had seen the many cases of insubordination, she would have been able to successful bring to court in those short few months, where the probationary agent had seen that her supervisor had wanted to manage that problem in-house.

He did in the end. Not in any way the betting pool had foreseen though. Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo left the team no one had seen him leaving and in the wake every minor transgression the agency ever had committed had been flushed out.  
Nobody had seen him leave for that very reason alone. The many secrets the man kept as handpicked second in command of one Special Agent Gibbs, prime investigator, supreme interrogator and top undercover agent of the whole agency. The red tape to have Agent DiNozzo even to admit to have worked some of these cases would be a political and legal nightmare.  
As well as many employees at the Navy Yard had known to have someone new coming in to take over his place. There was a reason he had been the Very Special Agent and to have his successor even learn those ropes had been a tiring time for the legal department amongst others.

But all of that what had been in the job description had only just barely scratched the surface of the problems. It was a miracle the agency still existed at this point. A lot of that had been worked by their very proficient new director.  
Director Granger was not an easy man to be around on good days, but he was a force to be reckoned with when it came to dealing swift and completely with the mess DiNozzo's reassignment had unearthed.

This is what brought her here today, into this elevator. A nervous wreck. 

Two years as an agent for the NCIS had been good to her. Despite the apparent demotion – at least in the eyes of field agents – when Agent Gibbs had returned from his prolonged leave of absence. He had promptly challenged her presence on his team, despite it being one person short, since Gibbs return had also promptly triggered Agent DiNozzo's request for a reassignment.  
Which was her clue not to protest on grounds of unfair treatment and graciously accept her new position as a lawyer in the legal department.  
If Agent DiNozzo refused to worked under Agent Gibbs, who by all accounts had been his mentor and sole partner for at least close to two years before there even was a team, then she would do as her erstwhile superior did and leave at first chance.

Michelle had chosen wisely. It was just a matter of weeks that the so called premiere team fell apart under the new leadership. Blatant disregard for rules and regulations lead to cases being thrown out of court left and right, while the agents got a fair share of black marks added to their files.  
Within months Agent McGee had proven to be unfit for field work and on top had committed the act of revealing trade, but partially also national secrets. It were long months to get him of the hook for treason and her department only did so to not indict the agency any further, for they had failed to put a stop to their agent's actions early on. A legal minefield they only walked so at the end of the day there was an agency to return to.

Same with the situation surrounding Officer David, which was further complicated since she never should have been placed on the MCRT in the first place. A foreign citizen and known active member of a foreign national agency in a position where all kinds of national secrets were freely available to her unchecked! An espionage dream come true for Israel.  
Michelle really could not fathom what previous Director Sheppard had been thinking. Until that and other misdeeds had come to light, she had somewhat idolized the woman if only for personally hiring her. But now she could only consider herself lucky, she had not ended up all tangled up in Sheppard's messes.

Agent Gibbs was still working as team leader of the MCRT. No matter how long and hard he had been questioned, he could not be convicted of ill-intend. Didn't excuse him for making blatant mistakes in the field training of his subordinates, but the same could be said about his superiors in regards to Agent Gibbs himself. He simply never had been correctly trained and his superiors had had the same wild west mentality and habit about running roughshod all over procedure and had been praised for it.  
Well, the re-education of one Leroy Jethro Gibbs was a long going process.  
Currently he still worked under direct supervision of the director and had to defend all his cases after closing to him and a panel consisting of members of Legal, Human Resources (because he really needed to be reminded that his agents were people and had rights too) and sometimes even JAG, before it being officially deemed closed and thus in most cases send to prosecution for trial.  
And that was only for the run of the mill variety of cases. For those complicated by matters of national security and or involving foreign agencies/agendas Homeland, DOD and SecNav send dignitaries too. It was a red tape nightmare, but one that proved to be necessary.  
The prosecution rates of those cases going to trial had gone significantly up, which in turn had helped immensely bringing up the standing of the whole agency after the whole debacle.

She couldn't let Agent DiNozzo down, who had believed in her despite everything. She couldn't allow the NCIS to fall down again. No, Michelle Lee would not be the reason another crisis would occur no matter what that would mean for her personally!

With a spirited movement she flipped the switch into the on position again. The elevator, abused like nearly all of his brethren in the Navy Yard for years in equal fashion, came back to life with a small jerk and transported her towards the floor of her destination.

She barely acknowledged the view down the mezzanine onto the orange bullpen as she strode past the bannister. Since Director Dranger had adopted an “open door” policy, whenever he was not otherwise engaged, his secretary didn't stop her from walking right past her and knocking politely on the door frame to the inner sanctum.

“Director Granger, I need to tell you, that an unknown force has approached me. They kidnapped my sister and I am to obtain DOMINO for them for her safe return...”


	2. Timeline for Michelle Lee and “Operation DOMINO” according to the show

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I compiled the timeline anyway, and I was not able to add it as a note, since it is obviously too long, so here you have one chapter of canon storyline at your leisure.

ca November 2005   
– Michelle Lee gets hired by NCIS.  
(As stated by Tony in s06e09 – Dagger that she had been with the agency for three years.)  
  
between Nov '05  
and May 2006   
– Lee attends FLETC.  
  
May 2006   
– Lee is assigned as Probationary Agent to the MCRT under Tony.  
(When she first appears on the show in s04e01 – Shalom it's been 4 months since Gibbs left.)  
  
September 2006   
– Lee is reassigned to Legal Department due to Gibbs' return.  
  
ca October 2006   
– Lee starts affair with Jimmy Palmer.  
  
November 2006   
– Lee is undercover for Gibbs to bring down human trafficking ring.  
  
February 2007   
– Lee takes part in the knife throwing lessons with the team.  
She goes undercover as escort/arm candy for Thom E. Gemcity.  
She is called in to write up Last Will and Testament for Lieutenant Roy Sanders.  
  
September 2007   
– Lee celebrates TGIF with Ziva, Abby, McGee, Ducky and Palmer.  
  
March 2008   
– Amanda Lee gets kidnappped.  
Petty Officer Roberts leaves Navy. (Connection to the DOMINO plot remains unclear, but Ziva was send back to Israel by Vance because of him,  
so he must be in it somehow.)  
  
April 2008   
– Petty Officer Stephen Nicholas Vargo tips off Director Vance that he is blackmailed to steal data.  
PO Vargo is killed by squeamish killer. (In flashback revealed to have been Lee.)  
  
May 2008   
– Leon Vance is new Director of NCIS.  
  
May 20th, 2008   
– Lee gets reassigned to the MCRT under Gibbs.  
McGee starts to decode the encryption on PO Roberts computer with the Cyber Unit.  
between May '08  
  
and September '08   
– Jimmy Palmer probably ends affair with her around this time. (He states, he felt as he was being used.)  
  
September 2008   
– PO Roberts gets blown up in Morocco.   
  
September 23rd, 2008  
– Lee seems to be third in command after Langer, before Keating; all are very much just the B-Team.  
September 24th, 2008  
– PO Vargo's phone calls Agent Lee in the Legal Department are discovered. She has filed them under undisclosed theft from Pentagon  
and no follow up had occurred. Therefore all seems legit.  
\- Tony hacks the summary file of PO Roberts downloaded data for McGee and they discover it's the DOMINO attack plan for the Middle East  
\- Lee's weekly visits to the strategic planning office (next door) are discovered. Her alibi is Jimmy Palmer, with whom she had regular amorous  
tête-à-têtes there.  
\- Keating tells Langer and therefore tips Lee unintentionally off that onlytheir accounts are audited. While Keating is being interrogated,  
she sets Langer up to take the fall for her. At the same time trying to make him believe it had been Keating. In the end Langer sees through her,  
but is killed by Lee within the strategic planning office. She claims self-defense.  
\- The case is being closed, although Gibbs' gut starts to churn.  
\- Lee is reassigned again back to the Legal Department.  
  
November 18th, 2008  
– The team is told to prepare a wargame to test security at a secret military facility where DOMINO is kept. Ziva, McGee and Tony get  
idea from Michelle for entry.  
Meanwhile Abby acts weirder than usual and even closes laboratory door to prevent anyone from entering.  
  
November 21st, 2008  
– Wargame at the secret military facility plays out. First the team uses body delivery to covertly collect security code, then at night Tony and  
Ziva break into the facility while McGee and Gibbs provide backup in a van.  
\- The true thief uses wargame as way in to steal DOMINO. Only it is a fake sample and this all was a trap to lure out the mole.  
  
November 22nd, 2008  
– A ploy involving Abby allegedly being the mole, gets Lee tangled in a web specifically designed for her, when she tries to signal her handler.  
She is forced into playing double agent to get to the backers after claiming to only do as she has been told to save her kidnapped “sister”.  
  
November 23rd, 2008  
– Lee is messing up the chance for the team to follow her handler after the handover of the fake DOMINO,  
\- In MTAC Gibbs, McGee and Lee watch satellite footage of a girl running away and being caught in the woods. Lee identifies the girl as Amanda.  
\- Tony and Ziva find her holding place in a cabin in Hickory Grove, Virginia with the guy capturing her shot dead and her missing.  
  
November 24th, 2008  
– Lee is supposed to make a second drop-off, but tips off her handler. But this time Tony and McGee can catch him before he gets away. He is  
afraid they kill his wife now.  
\- In interrogation Lee admits to Amanda being her adopted sister, for whom she cared single-handedly since she had been 6 months old.  
\- The handler's name is Ted Bankston and he is a former security analyst with the NSA, but left because he was suspected of mishandling  
classified information. Vance accuses him of looking for a different source, but he claims to have been blackmailed and shows a single strand of  
hair as proof. His blackmailer calls himself “The Weatherman” and wants DOMINO for monetary gain through stock market investments at the right time.  
\- Abby confirms hair found at Amanda's holding place belongs to the same woman as the hair Bankston gave them, but that the hair proves that  
the woman is already dead.  
\- News footage shows military movement in the Middle East and is proof for “The Weatherman” that the DOMINO sample is real.  
\- Gibbs asks Vance for the real DOMINO for the next drop, which will actually never leave the building, but no one but Gibbs knows that until after  
everything is over.  
\- During the drop Abby finally identifies the dead kidnapper as Paul Winton with an address close to the dead drop. Tony and Ziva go to  
investigate, while Gibbs tries to keep an eye on Lee and Bankston, the flash drive supposedly containing the real DOMINO and to wrestle an angry director  
on his mobile phone.  
\- Once Tony and Ziva arrive at the address and find a personal internet hub, Bankston takes Lee hostage and tries to escape, for he is “The Weatherman”  
and behind everything.  
\- Tony and Ziva also find Amanda and have to save her from electrocution, Bankston's “fail safe” to destroy all evidence at once.  
\- The moment they inform Gibbs per ear piece and therefore also Lee that Amanda is safe, Lee grabs Bankston's gun and give Gibbs the sign to  
hit her with the kill shot to take him out.  
  
November 25th, 2008  
\- Gibbs gives his report and informs Vance that DOMINO was on his desk in the envelope the whole time.  
\- Afterward he informs Amanda of “Mishy”'s death and hands her Lee's badge.

**Author's Note:**

> I am not perfectly happy with this installment, wanted to have it go deeper than I was able to. This is mostly on me though, for I am not really in the mood for creative writing right now.  
> My life is a bit complicated right now.  
> I'm technically not on speaking terms with my most of my family, but I am forced to because we all care for my soon-to-be 91 year old grandmother at home, who on top of everything has dementia and becomes more violent these days. My clinical depression hates all of this very much and me especially. It's been a tough winter so far.  
> Next month my favorite band finally goes back on tour to celebrate their 30th anniversary, so that is something to look forward to, but then they'll only come back for this year, for they are technically split up for 9 years now. But I plan to attend as much concerts as I can, if only for my mental health.
> 
> So be patient with me when it comes to more installments. I plan to at least give you Gibbs' POV, maybe even one or two others *cough* JAG*cough*, but I really don't feel it at the moment.


End file.
